Three
by kygirl101
Summary: It really starts when the three realize it’s them against the four. Or rather, it’s three with preferences to one, and three with preferences to those three, and one with preferences toward all six. HUnnyxKyouyaxKaoru OT3


THREE

It really starts when the three realize it's them against the four. Or rather, it's three with preferences to one, and three with preferences to those three, and one with preferences toward all six. Only, the three are too closeted to admit their feelings as openly as the four; they are the givers, and the other three are the takers and the one is the receiver.

When the three realize this, it hurts—a lot and a little at the same time—and at first they seek comfort in themselves, branching out and reaching in. Somehow, they discover, it hurts more that was and so a boy tires of that game, a man finds it a merit-less waste of his time and a man-boy becomes sick of the bittersweet fancy he's feeding himself.

They band together with a bond that's invisible to the four, and they share the hurt. It's not the same as they imagine it could be, though; Kyouya is not muscular enough to be Mori, Hunny is not russet-haired enough to be Hikaru, and Kaoru is not tall enough to be Tamaki. It's a release, but not the one they want. It's more of an agreement—each time they come together, the soft moans of an absent presence's name are not to be taken as an offence, and the occasional tears afterwards are not to be comforted by the other two, for that will only make it hurt more—this substitution for desire. Really, it's just an easier way to be around the ones they do want for an unspecified number of hours during the day—it's always easier without the added sexual tension.

It's a temporary mend for a broken heat, a band-aid that doesn't heal the wound, but deprives it of oxygen, keeping it safe from infection as it turns the skin around the injury pale, soft and deathly.

One time, before, during and after the substitutional sex, they figure that Hunny's been injured the longest—his wound the oldest and not yet scabbed over—for he knew his cousinly affection was never quite right, tainted from the first time they met and spreading like red wine on a table cloth of white lace. Kaoru's the second; he was connected to Hikaru from the start, but his oblivious and somewhat surreal innocence kept the growing feeling at bay until they were at least twelve. Kyouya was not last to realize, but last in meeting the most important person in his life. It was as if the words the other boy had said to him that day, breaking out of the box and whatnot, had awoken something inside him—a fierce emotional pull to want, protect, and need.

There were no set uke's and seme's in the three, mainly because they didn't know what roles the other three would adopt. Hikaru could be an ultra submissive uke, Tamaki the wild and wicked dominant, and Mori could be both, really. It was something that they to know, but had never had the gall to ask—how do you talk about that to someone?—and they flushes, switched the topic or ignored it whenever a conversation akin to that subject matter was brought up.

It's also an unspoken rule that, where ever the rendezvous happen, it is not an invitation to sleep and they have to leave soon after the affairs are taken care of. It can also never been the Hitachiin residence, as the twins share a room, and if it's at Hunny's or Kyouya's, they must always remember to lock the door. It's been a joke between the three to remember to do so, even since one of the Haninozuka maids walked in on the tantric goings on of the young master's bed. They laugh about it, but it's hollow.

~/~/~/~

These "get togethers", "affairs", "appointments" seem to progress longer than expected, especially after the other three had intermitted taken their own shots at a relationship with the one and broken up. Shoulders slumped, they divert their full attention back to the three: Mori to Hunny, Hikaru to Kaoru and Tamaki to Kyouya. But now, the craved relationships are empty, sulking and...Unpleasant. And the commiserating, substitution, replacement sex continues; only it's not just sex anymore.

Occasionally, if the time calls for it, they'll collab in a bed of their choice, but other than that the time together is spent with quiet, secretive conversations that cause smiles to play across their lips. They talk about the used to be's (the want, the wrong, the wanton mental images), the are's (the comforting sandwiches on the couch, feeing each other strawberries or cake or pocky, and the conversations like this one) and the will be's (marriage, confessions, growing up...) and it makes fond, happy and sad smiles cross their faces. Things will fall silent, a heavy blanket between all three that smoothers until it's kissed away.

These supposedly bright teenagers fail to see where the relationship born of need, sadness and hurt is heading, but it becomes all the more obvious when Kaoru invites them over to show off his—his personal—room, or when Hunny reaches out to a shirtless Ootori and Hitachiin who are making to leave and whispers, "stay", or when Kyouya actually remembers to moans out two names—two names of people he's actually with—rather than the one person he's not.

Indeed, they see it more and more—as do others gradually—and it's becoming an even more casual and comforting thing, something they're starting to enjoy all the more. Of course, they keep the ones that hurt them close to their hearts, closer than before, but they can't help but hold the two who helped them through that hurt close by.

The boy's can't even feel when it stops hurting—the pain that as felt when Haruhi stole their heart's hearts had dissipated, both since she had let them go and when they did, too. They are reasonably oblivious to how everything's changed, but they don't remain so forever, even if it does take a reasonably intimate setting for the conversation to start up.

"Ne, Kao-chan, Kyou-chan," Hunny starts, his voice alone in the dark. A chink of moonlight barely illuminates the figures of two other boys in the Ootori bed and truthfully, he cannot tell weather or not they are awake or sleeping.

There's silence, and then "....yeah?" It's grudging and muffled, weighed down with the almost sleep factor, but attentive.

"What is it, Hunny-senpai?" Kyouya actually has the decency to prop himself up on an elbow to look at his upperclassman over the virtually unresponsive lump between them.

Hunny beams. "I had a dream about you two last night," the small senior confesses brightly.

Silence as Kyouya processes this. The blond and brunette almost think the red head has drifted off to sleep before he mutters, "Was it a wet dream?" against Hunny's hair, and the blond snorts.

"Nope!" He's got an arm under Kaoru's head, and currently, it's clasping hands with Kyouya's free palm, the one that isn't otherwise preoccupied with lazily draping itself across the Hitachiin. "It was just a dream. You know..." and here he pauses, unsure how to proceed in these waters, "Uh...you know, what would have happened if we didn't...if they didn't...if she didn't..."

From the way their fingers have tightened around his and the way breath has stopped rustling his hair tells him that the other two understand what he's trying to say perfectly, and now Hunny swallows, wondering how to best phrase his next words to show what he's feeling. Nothing comes and the senior unwittingly leaves the brunette and red head in suspense.

"And...I didn't mind," Hunny tells them, all childishness in his voice lost as he wears his destructive heart the closest to his sleeve that it has been since battling with his father for the love of sweets. However, this time he must clarify. "I don't mind, that is to say—"

"That it turned out like this?" Kyouya finishes for him and the Haninozuka heir smiles softly as one of Kaoru's arms wraps around his waist. Kyouya chuckles quietly and the Hitachiin lets out a low moan.

"As sweet as that is, senpai, it's too late for musings." But there's a smile in the light 'shut-up' kiss he shares with the short blond.

And so, if it really started with four being greater than three, it really ended with three proving it was stronger and greater than one plus one plus one plus girl. And the three are really quite happy with that outcome.

-fin-


End file.
